Press release
26 April 2005
BVP President elected as Chairman of EASA
Jean-Pierre Teyssier, President of the French Bureau de Vérification de la Publicité (BVP), has been elected Chairman of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) – the single voice of advertising self-regulation in Europe.
Mr Teyssier, who has been President of the BVP since 1999, was elected to the EASA Chairmanship at its AGM on Friday (22 April). He succeeds Christopher Graham, Director General of the UK Advertising Standards Authority, who held the position for two years.
In accepting the Chairmanship, Mr Teyssier stated “if we want recognition of the effectiveness of advertising self-regulation in Europe, we have come to a crossroads”. He highlighted particular challenges for the advertising industry, drawing on the examples of the current direction of EU advertising-related legislation, public concerns over advertising and the resulting “scapegoating” of the advertising industry, and low levels of recognition for self-regulation.
He was, however, optimistic for the future of self-regulation: referring to recent constructive dialogue with the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection, he called on the advertising industry to “confirm and amplify” existing initiatives, and to do more to demonstrate that advertising acts responsibly.
A graduate of the École Nationale d’Administration, Mr Teyssier has held roles as Secretary General of French TV channel TF1, Director of Production and Distribution at RTL Télévision and President of the French National Audiovisual Institute, as well as communications aide to Jacques Chirac and Edouard Balladur. Professeur associé at Paris-Dauphine University, he is married with 3 children and lives in Paris.
The meeting also saw Ildikó Fazekas and Malcolm Earnshaw elected as EASA’s Vice-Chairmen. Ms Fazekas is Secretary General of the Hungarian advertising standards body Önszabályozó Reklám Testület (ÖRT), while Mr Earnshaw represents the World Federation of Advertisers. David Mahon, Executive Director of the European Federation of Magazine Publishers, was returned as Treasurer.
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For more information about EASA and advertising self-regulation, contact Emma Withers at communications@easa-alliance.org, or visit www.easa-alliance.org.
For more information about the BVP, contact Anne Chanon at anne.chanon@bvp.org, or visit www.bvp.org.
Notes to editors
About EASA:
The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels and is the single voice of advertising self-regulation in Europe. It acts as the European coordination point for advertising self-regulatory bodies and systems across Europe. EASA brings together 28 SROs (24 from 22 European countries as well as SROs in Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand) and 13 organisations representing the advertising industry (advertisers, agencies and the media) in Europe.
About the BVP:
The Bureau de Vérification de la Publicité (BVP) was founded in 1935 and celebrated its 70th anniversary on 21 April 2005. Funded by the advertising industry, the BVP is responsible for upholding standards of advertising in France based on the industry’s codes of practice.